Thursday, December 08, 2005

What has $4.5 billion and provides millions of dollars per year to the left in California and won’t stop until we have universal, government-run, and fully unionized healthcare? The answer, three foundations created by Blue Cross’ conversion to for-profit status: The California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundation and the California HealthCare Foundation.

These three entities, now apparently hijacked by liberal activists, fund political activity, liberal consumer rights groups such as the Consumers Union (the publisher of Consumer Reports), and groups such as the ACLU, the CTA teachers union, Planned Parenthood, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (the latter for something called, the “Transgender Healthcare Action Project”), and I could go on and on, as the millions in grants to the inane, PC, left-wing, weird, and occasionally sane stretch into the hundreds.

As an example of the mega-foundations’ sophisticated political tactics, The California Wellness Foundation gave Karen Bass, an L.A.-based community and healthcare activist, a $12,500 grant on October 24, 2003. Interestingly, the grant came six weeks after Ms. Bass began her campaign for the Democrat Party nomination to the State Assembly. Several staffers involved in the grant process at The California Wellness Foundation also contributed to Ms. Bass’ campaign. Less than two months after the cash grant, Ms. Bass loaned her campaign $34,000, boosting her effort to eclipse former L.A. City Councilman Nate Holden and two others to win the primary and go on to represent the 47th Assembly District. The very talented Assemblymember Bass is now on the fast track to leadership in the Assembly’s powerful Democrat Caucus and holds as one of her chief interests (you guessed it) universal health care.

In the end, this episode shows one fundamental truth: liberals are willing to invest tremendous effort to create for themselves engines of change to forcibly remake America in their image. Can anyone show me three foundations that conservatives have hijacked worth $4.5 billion?

The solution? If it’s possible, try to get some conservatives on the boards of these three foundations to hold them accountable. If we don’t watch them, they will become even more aggressive in funding candidates and causes that are no doubt completely contrary to the mission for which they were founded.

HNF is a California political Blog. The contributors for this site are based in different regions of the state and give insight into local, state and federal politics. In addition to in-depth coverage of political campaigns and legislation, HNF also tends to delve into the under belly of California politics. We have contributors that work in government and are usually the first to "break" the big political rumors from inside the Capitol.
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